Jeff Mitchell: Castañeda has become council bully

Mar. 21, 2013

Jose Castaneda

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Under the Dome

Jose Castañeda Watch: Day 96

Wednesday marked the 96th day that new Salinas City Councilman and Alisal Union School District board member Jose Castañeda has continued to hold both seats in an apparent violation of state law.

Well, the City Council meeting Tuesday night offered some excellent political theater.

Castañeda backed the council into the unenviable position of having to file a lawsuit against the District 1 councilman to dislodge him from his Alisal school board seat.

Kudos to Mayor Joe Gunter and councilwomen Jyl Lutes, Kimbley Craig and Gloria De La Rosa for doing the right thing, for standing up for the rule of law and for facing down the council’s very own school-yard bully.

Unfortunately, the actions of councilmen Tony Barrera and Steve McShane were anything but praiseworthy. Inexplicably, both men voted against suing Castañeda.

Maybe they couldn’t get what’s at stake, or, more probably, they don’t want to get it. In any case, their performances and votes were an embarrassment.

McShane, who apparently has problems with confrontation and heavy issues, showed that he still just isn’t ready for prime time. Barrera asked some very smart questions at first and appeared to be headed toward supporting the lawsuit. But when it came time to vote, he caved. He never explained his final vote.

As for Castañeda, well, not only did he reveal himself to be a bully, he revealed a petulant, poorly thought-out defense of why he should be allowed to continue to break state law and why the council should not sue him. His very participation in the vote may have violated the state’s Fair Political Practices Act, according to legal counsel present at the meeting.

Look, folks, we all live under the laws of the U.S., the state of California, the County of Monterey and the charter of the City of Salinas. We don’t get to pick and choose which laws we will obey and which ones we will ignore.

If we did, chaos surely would reign.

For this reason, I call on Mr. Castañeda, again, to give up his school board seat and get on with the business of representing the constituents of District 1.

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If he doesn’t, I predict he’s in for a very big fall — legally, politically and certainly financially.

Castañeda supporters threaten mayor with recall

Right when you thought there just couldn’t be an ounce more drama poured onto this thing, a group of Castañeda supporters vowed Tuesday night to recall Gunter.

No real surprise there — just more Castañeda-influenced smoke and mirrors to distract the public from his pitiful performance (to date).

In looking over a copy of their “intent-to-circulate petition” document, it looks like the organizers already may have made several technical goofs on the paperwork that may disqualify them.

But even if they get a green light, they will need to collect the signatures of as much as 20 percent of the city’s registered voters within a window of about 120 days.

That’s a ton of signatures. The city is right now chasing down the exact number of registered voters in Salinas and checking the Elections Code for how long a period of time the petitioners will have.

Some 16,600 voters — almost 52 percent of those voting — put Gunter into office less than six months ago, so I suspect pulling down that many signatures will prove a formidable if not impossible challenge. But, hey, it’s their right to try — even if it is misguided.

I would launch into a full defense of Gunter here, but the mayor doesn’t need my help.

And even if by some miracle this group somehow actually forces a recall, Gunter will easily defeat the effort. He’s done nothing but serve his city honorably as an employee for 30-plus years. He has served as the head of several Salinas charities and he now serves us tirelessly as our mayor.

Again, this is just, sadly, one more thing to distract the city from getting to the real issues Salinas faces.

Barrera's last-minute cancellation not as costly as first thought

Despite several sources at City Hall saying they were sure Councilman Tony Barrera’s last-minute cancellation of his trip to Washington, D.C., earlier this month would be costly — for either him or the city — it turns out the damages won’t be as bad as first thought.

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Barrera, who was a last-minute add to go to the National League of Cities conference, abruptly canceled at the very last minute, apparently because he’s not big on snowy weather.

Barrera, in an email to me Friday, said he thought he’d be on the hook to reimburse the city just for the $150 airline cancellation fee. Turns out he was right.

However, sources said earlier that they were sure the councilman would be responsible for reimbursing the near-$600 conference registration fee, a first-night hotel reservation cancellation fee and the airline ticket cancellation fee — all likely totaling near $900.

All’s well that ends well, I guess.

I still say we all need to chip in and get the poor guy an overcoat and galoshes, though.

Jeff Mitchell covers Salinas City Hall and local politics. Send tips or story ideas by email to: jemitchell@theCalifornian.com; or by phone: 831-754-4281. He can be heard live on the air Fridays at 8:10 a.m. on KION 1460-AM and KION 101.1-FM. You also can follow Under the Dome on Twitter at twitter.com/CalUnderTheDome.